Aegina Island Excursion

We went to Aegina island last Sunday. Here are some photos from there.

This time we traveled this ferry boat called Achaios, which Hellenic Seaways started to using for this line this year. Normal ticket cost 9.50 Euro per person, but there are discounts if you buy return of if you choose less busy hours. It takes 1 hour and 10 min. from Piraeus to Aegina town.

Small chapel in Aegina port, which is dedicated to Saint Nikolaos (who else?)

Fishing boats in the port.

Aegina town has many attractive narrow streets, typical of Greek islands. Bougainvilliers were beautiful.

Another of the narrow streets of Aegina town.

Rose.

Souvlaki place called The Black Cat with a humorous sign board.

Another souvlaki place. It does not show in the photo, but I can tell you this is called Tenekedakia, which I suppose is a branch of the Tenekediakia in Halandri. When I came here last time (maybe 4 years ago), it was an Oriental souvlaki place called Ex Anatolis. I remember because I ate there once.

A kitten having a nap (but then I poked it and woke up).

One of the cafeterias of Aegina town.

This time we hired bicycles (5 Euro per day for a rather shabby one) and went as far as Perdika.

We have tried in the past the beaches in Aegina town and Agia Marina, but they were disappointing. These beaches toward Perdika looked more promising. We might come back to try one, when it is hotter.

For more photos of Aegina that I took in the past, please see Gate to Greece site.

Aegina Day Trip 4

Last batch of Aegina photos.

We continued to stroll around Aegina town.

Another friendly and playful cat. Regardless of its lion like mane, the cat was female.

In front of the port, there are many horse carriages. In my opinion, the coastline of the town isn't long enough to justify the need of carriage, but evidently there are tourists who like to ride.



This is the pistachio shop of Aeginate Agricultural Association.



Although the price here is higher than in other shops in Aegina town (but it is not much more expensive than in Skravenitis Supermarkets which sell their own brand of quite good pistachios), you can get a guarantee that their pistachios are from Aegina.



Because of the climate and soil suitable for pistachios, the Aeginate nuts are reputed to have better flavour than those produced in other parts of Greece.

We bought a packet to try. Hubby, one of Hubby's brother and his wife said these pistachios were better than usual ones, while I didn't find much difference from other high quality pistachios. Well, you have to try by your self. A 100g package won't damage your wallet too bad.

While walking around, we were searching for somewhere to eat. Many mezedopoleia / psarotavernes did not seem much different from those in Piraeus coast, albeit that the price is somehow cheaper. After much examination, we settled on one which is a bit away from the center.



Although it was full when we arrived, in 5 min we get one table in the shade.

We were offered a red dip.



It looked suspiciously red chili paste, but turned out to be red pepper (capsicum) paste.

From Today's Dishes section, we picked dormadakia yalantzi (herb rice wrapped in vine leaves).



Their characteristic showed that the vine leaves were fresh.

And a huge bowl of salad with leaves, manouri cheese and dried figs.



It was very refreshing in the hot Sunday afternoon, although it should better be shared by more than 3 people and not by 2 as we did.

The main dish was Atherina.



Again tasty, although not particularly better than the fresh Atherina we eat in Piraeus.

By the way, the cat in the photo is the same one which tried to sleep on Hubby's lap. Just after this photo was taken, a big black dog came and she took a flight. It was a shame, as we could have shared the fish.

The fried potatoes arrives at last.



The colour is slightly too pale, but tasted fine.

You might think that we did not eat much, but eaten with bread, we got really full in the end.

With a bottle of water and a bottle of beer, the bill came to €31; expensive by Aeginate standard, but well worth for the quality. We would love to return at the next time we'll be in Aegina town.

Babis (Μπάμπης)
Akti Toti Hatzi 7
Paralia Panagitsas
Aegina
Tel. 22970-23594

http://www.babisaegina.gr/

Then we bought coffees and got on to the boat.



On return, the boat was quite full and it was impossible to find any seat inside (ant it was too hot). So we remained on the deck, where again was pretty full. Besides, the boat arrived and departed 15 min late. I was guessing the boats tend to accumulate delay in late afternoon.

Well, that is all. Hope to go back there soon. Next time, we would like to rent a bike and to explore parts of the island where we have never been to yet.

Aegina Day Trip 3

It has been quite a while since we made this trip. I will try to finish it up fast.

This is a building we saw near the cafeteria (see the previous post).



Nothing particular, but beautiful.

This is the seaside road of Aegina.



As most of the buildings are listed, the view has not changed for many decades.

This is a taverna near the fish market. We wondered if it was a good idea to have lunch here, but, in the event, we thought it was too dim.



Although it was a Sunday, the fish market - very small, about a dozen of shop - was open. Do they try to sell fish to tourists? I don't think the price is cheaper than in Piraeus or in Valvakio in Athens. Besides, if we buy fish there, it gets stale during the transportation. Not a good idea.

By this time, most of the seaside and not-really-seaside tavernas were full. We checked what people were eating so that we can find a good place to sit down.

Bougainvillea.



Here in Greece, we can see bougainvillea all year around, but they look better in hotter season.

This is a hotel in the Aegina town. I photographed because the sun room in the upper floor looked unusual.



Inside is decorated with Greek laced curtain. I wondered who it looked like from inside.



Brightly painted house and pink bougainvillea.




And half-ruined building.



Totally ruined door.



These combinations of colours, particular to Greek islands, are enchanting.

Aegina Day Trip 2

We arrived at Aegina Port.



This was the my third visit to Aegina, the first one dates back to 2002.

Foreign tourists tend to think Aegina as a convenient but least attractive choice of Greek islands. I, however, love its liveliness and loveliness and think well worth repeated visit.

Aegina town is very lovely with its neo-classic, pastel-coloured buildings.



This is a statue of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Prime Minister of Greece.



During the war of Indipendence, the provisory - yet to be recovnised officially - government of Greece was established here. Aegina, therefore, is the first capital city of modern Greece, while the first OFFICIAL capital being Nafplio.

We strolled along the seaside looking for cafeteria, as Hubby wanted his second breakfast.

And we found a beach cat.



Closer.



For seome reason she loved Hubby and wanted to use him as her bed.



It seems that cats get sleepy when they see him. Also when we visited Mystras in January, two cats crawled up his knees and fell asleep.

And we found a cafeteria near the cat.



Hubby had a frappé and I had a milk tea (the bright sunlight might give you an illusion of summer-like hot day, but it was just warm and breezy by the sea).

'Milk' part of milk tea materialised as 'Nounou' and was accompanied by, besides sugar and a biscuit, a pot of honey as sweetner. I have never seen tea served with honey in Athens, where maybe you have to request if you want it.



And we had a chocolate crepe, which was beautifully presented and tasted satisfactorily good.



All of these cost €9. Things are slightly cheeper on islands, we thought (of course, so far as you don't go to Mykonos, probably).

After the elevence, we continued the exploration.

Aegina Day Trip 1

Some photos from our latest trip to Aegina.

This is the ship that we take: Nefeli of Hellenic Seaways. One way ticket cost 9.50 euros and it takes 1 hours and 5 min from Piraeus to Aegina port.



Now the cheapest ticket costs 7 euros. I guess it is because the ship is old and slow but don't know for sure. The flying dolphins are very frequent, but I don't know if it worth your euros just to cut 20 min of travel.

The ship going out of Piraeus Port.



Water looked almost black, ink blue sort of colour.



Walking around the deck, I found this box with familar characters on.



It was an emergency exit shooter made by a Japanese company Fujikura Rubber. That was why instruction was in English and Japanese.



I felt like meeting a compatriot at the end of the world!

This is the port of Aegina.



It was my third visit to Aegina and the last time was in the summer 2006.

In our previous two visits, we have never explored the Aegina town well. So we went to explore it.

Day Trip to Aegina

We went to Aegina this Sunday.



Actually we wanted to go to Nafplio, but an unfortunate incident stopped us to go there. We were planning to get a bus to go to Kifissou Bus Terminal, but the bus that should have taken us there was running a different route as usual because of the Sunday Market and we did not know that. Here in Greece this kind of information is something you should know a priori, even though there is no way of learning it except from kindly neighbours.

Anyway, so we gave up going to the Bus Terminal and caught a boat to Aegina instead. One way ticket costs 9.50 euros on Hellenic Seaways ferries and it takes 65 min. It was 6.50 euros in 2006, up about 30%. There is a cheaper ticket of 7 euros on Agios Nectarios (it is the name of the ship and I don't know the name of the shipping company). There are also speed boats (Flying Dolphin), but you can save only 20 min or so for paying 4.5 euros more.

Eventually we had a quite pleasant time in Aegina town. We did no go anywhere else, having already visited in the past Saint Nectarios Church, Aphaia Temple, and Agia Marina.

Although passing tourists tend not to realise, Aegina town is quite beautiful with all these Neo-Classical buildings and bright colours. We enjoyed coffee by the sea and beautiful lunch again by the sea (where else!?)

And of course we bought pistachio nuts, famous produce of the island. In Greece pistachio nuts are called 'peanuts of Aegina' (φιστίκια Αιγίνης). But you are fooled if you believe that all the pistachio nuts sold in Aegina are from Aegina. As the tourists seek after pistachio nuts there, there are shops that sell pistachio from elsewhere.

I don't doubt that the pistachio from other parts of Greece (and of the world) can be tasty as well, so far as the quality is high. But if you want to try pistachio from Aegina - reputed to be the best in Greece - it is better to go to the Aegina Agricultural Association's booth in the port. The price is higher than in other shops around, but not much more than the ones in Skravenitis Supermarket and, above all, you can be sure that their nuts are produce of Aegina. I think we paid €6.70 for half a kilo (the bag in the photo above). They are actually very good, although they are smaller and the shells are darker in colour than the standard ones. Try by yourself. You can buy from 100g package.

Archaeological Museum of Aegina

19 October 2005

A new page about the Archaeological Museum of Aegina (or Aigina) was added.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/aegina/aiginaarchmus_en.html

This archaeological museum is the oldest in Greece being established during the war of Independence